Data obtained from Chainalysis, a leading crypto data analytic firm, the four biggest crypto exchanges since 2018 Coinbase, Binance, Huobi, and Bitfinex received about 40% of all BTCs via exchanges this year.
The next ten crypto exchanges collected 36% in a combined volume of BTCs leaving other smaller exchanges to share out the remaining 24% of transfer volume.
Chainalysis, in a detailed report, also analyzed that though about 96% of retail traders made most of the transactions, the professional traders controlled most of the volume;
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“Retail traders, whom we categorize as those who deposit less than $10,000 USD worth of Bitcoin on exchanges at a time, appear to be the large majority, accounting for 96% of all transfers sent to exchanges on an average weekly basis.
“Professional traders, however, control the liquidity of the market, accounting for 85% of all the USD value of Bitcoin value sent to exchanges,” the report said.
Chainalysis also concluded that Bitcoin’s supply makes it similar to gold, giving it a safe haven asset status as digital gold.
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“But this digital gold is supported by an active trading market for those who prefer to buy and sell frequently. The 3.5 million Bitcoin used for trading supplies the market, and, in interaction with the level of demand, determine the price.”
The report by Chainalysis also spoke about where Bitcoin presently stays. It said;
“Roughly 60% of Bitcoin that is not lost is held by a licensed custodial service, or as FATF would refer to it, a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP). Most cryptocurrency exchanges would fall into this category, along with hosted wallets.
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“As we can see, this share has risen steadily over time, reflecting the growth of custodial cryptocurrency businesses as Bitcoin has gone more mainstream.
“The dominance of VASPs becomes even clearer when we consider that, of the remaining 40% of available Bitcoin, which is not currently held by VASPs, 87% has passed through a VASP at some point.
“Most people either hold their Bitcoin on VASPs, or acquire their Bitcoin from VASPs.”